how do you network a laptop and a home computer w/o server?

eyeguy616 · Mar 6, 2003, 02:40 PM

Alright. I have a cable modem hooked up to a cheap 5 port router where 1 port is set to "uplink." I then have my laptop and my comp hooked up to the router. Laptop has winXP pro and the comp has win2k pro.
I would like to be able to access both the internet and the other computer with both devices, but right now only the laptop can get internet, the comp can't access anything. How would I set it up without having a dedicated server with 2 nic's. like many guides suggest I do?

~eyeguy616

Necrosis · Mar 6, 2003, 05:38 PM

First off which router did you end up going with? You also need them setup under the same domain name as well. If you have to you can use the networking wizard in XP to help you setup the Win2K computer as well.

eyeguy616 · Mar 7, 2003, 12:05 AM

Just checked the bottom of the thing: Sohoware NDH305 5-port hub. Would that be considered a router? It was super cheap a long time ago, and I was able to get almost this sort of thing going without much trouble (both devices were able to access the internet, just not each other. I was even able to make a private Unreal Tournament server on one machine that the other could connect to, but it wasn't at full LAN speed for some reason...), but I have since then had Windows reformats/reinstalls and the laptop wasn't always around (it's my bro's, but he doesn't use it anymore, so it's mine to use now) I think the laptop came with WinME and my comp had WinXP pro at the time.
Well, I was fiddling with network settings, trying to regain internet access on my main comp when Win2k completely broke.

Explorer wouldn't start, the 'run' dialogue box would hang, even Safe Mode was broken.

So, I had to do a reinstall as it was just out of my league to save completely, and now I'm writing this using my main comp.

If only Win2k had System Restore.... I think I was getting mad (as I really was after dozens of failures using ipconfig and reboots) so I uninstalled the NIC with the idea that it would reinstall itself after a reboot (works with hardware most of the time when it's malfunctioning)... that just wasn't the case this time.

Anyway, I would like to be able to get the two networked still. I tried using the networking wizard in XP, which is on the laptop, and it simply tried to guide me through ICS, which has to have one comp with two NIC's. I would like to do this with only one NIC if it's possible. I'm also a real newb when it comes to networking, so any guides to this sort of things would be really helpful.

Thanks for any help.
~eyeguy616

peroni · Mar 7, 2003, 02:03 AM

First of all a Hub is not a router, it is just a dumb device that splits the signal over several ports.
If you connect both your main PC and the laptop to the Hub you will be trying to pull 2 public IP adresses, usually ISP's only allow one IP per user unless specified.

Question is, are you getting a public ip on both computers? Or are you getting an ip like 169.254.x.x ?
Run ipconfig from a command prompt box to find out.

***craig5320*** · Mar 7, 2003, 07:42 AM

It's not possible using a hub, even with the uplink setup, you could either contact your ISP asking for two IP's which I doubt they'll give you

or the other option is to go with Two NIC's in the PC and use ICS

or buy a router

eyeguy616 · Mar 7, 2003, 11:58 AM

Thank y'all for clearing that up. I was getting something like 169.254.x.x on the main, but when I unhooked the laptop and rebooted, the number was in the correct range, but the ip was different from the one the laptop had and it couldn't connect. Something scary: the ip number is still the exact same one it had before, but now it connects.

I guess we must have had two ip's that time, but it was never on the bill the whole time we had that configuration, which was a few months.

Oh well.....
Anyway, I saw a really cheap router/firewall for $40 in the Fry's Electronics ad in the newspaper today, if I were to buy it (it's "D-Link: cable/dsl ethernet firewall router" according to the ad, which is not very descriptive), how would I set it up? Is it simply plug'n'pray, or is there some software/drivers involved?
Also, I found a neat piece of software "Sygate Home Network" http://soho.sygate.com/products/gate_ov.htm which uses only one nic to split the internet to other computers. Seems pretty neat. Does pretty much what the router does, just in software.
What do y'all think?

~eyeguy616

UberLord · Mar 7, 2003, 12:09 PM

I happen to use the D-Link DSL-504 router myself (ADSL jobby).
It's a very good, cheap little thing thats very easy to setup and work with.

Some minor quibbles I have with it

1) Very very basic firewall - so put a decent firewall on each of your PC's
2) If you need to DCC in IRC then you need to use static IP's and portforward (which is a crying shame as our work linux box firewall/router can handle it for dynamic IP's)
3) Did I mention that it's firewall is crap?
4) Occasional need to power-cycle the router (like once a week) as it's prone to freezing (you can't ping it)
5) Naff firewall.

But, with all the above, it's the cheapest I found when I bought it. All my PC's run hardened firewalls so the crappy firewall on the box isn't a problem.

My only real beef is having to port forward DCC requests which means static IP's. Which is an arse as I have to change my laptops IP when going from work to home and vice versa.

HTH

eyeguy616 · Mar 7, 2003, 07:49 PM

I decided to try out the Sygate Home Network, but now another problem arises: both devices can access the internet, but not each other.

I'm going to keep at it until something gives (hopefully not Windows....)

~eyeguy616

eyeguy616 · Mar 7, 2003, 08:17 PM

Finally, it all works! I can run and copy stuff from the main computer on the laptop and vice versa!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee....

shn did the trick.

~eyeguy616

peroni · Mar 8, 2003, 02:37 AM

Hey cool I did not know that program.
Hovewer there is a downside, if you want to access the net with your laptop the other PC must always be on.
That is the main reason I have bought a router, when I was testing drivers I kept rebooting and my girlfriend kept complaining that she was losing connection

eyeguy616 · Mar 8, 2003, 12:03 PM

Yep, that's the only downside. Maybe I'll go ahead and get a router some time in the future, but right now the laptop is not in use enough to justify it. Plus, I think if I boot it alone it's ip settings will be different, but I haven't tried that yet....
I don't know, at least it works well for the time being.

~eyeguy616